1/27/10

Just a quick post to thank everyone who sent me well wishes with the move to my new home. I am finally in and have left the money pit behind. Good riddance right? I have a normal house now; one with a working newer stove, a working newer fridge, heat, concrete foundation, etc... Goodbye to the days of ocean water in the basement, families of racoons living in the attic, crappy landlords, fridges in the living room, oh I could go on and on. Right now as I type this I have mountains of boxes to unpack, a kitchen that is partially together, not to mention lots of stress. But everyone tells me the stress will decrease as the days pass--I hope.
Obviously I'm not doing any baking, but thought I'd share a post with you from the days when I had a working oven...way before Thanksgiving. Here is a recipe and photo from my archives (I need to weed through the archives more as I have a lot of stored up recipes and photos).
I'll try my best to keep up with posting and replies on all your blogs--I miss you guys dearly. And miss all your blog posts.

As for these cookies, they are the perfect gingerbread cookies, you will never need another recipe. It hails from the folks at America's Test Kitchen. You can make them flat or thick. And trust me when I say, it has the perfect balance of flavors; nothing too strong nor too weak.

In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Process about 10 seconds until combined.
Scatter the butter pieces over the dry mixture and process again until the mixture is fine and sandy, about 15 seconds.
With the machine still on, slowly pour in the molasses and milk and process until the dough forms a soft moist mass, about 10 seconds. It will be VERY soft and sticky. (This dough can also be made in a stand mixer).
Divide the dough into roughly two portions. Place one portion between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll out to about 1/4" thick. Repeat with the other portion of dough.
Leaving the dough between sheets of parchment, stack on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Take one of the dough sheets from the freezer and peel off the top parchment sheet, then replace. Flip the dough over and remove the other parchment sheet.
Use desired cutters to cut shapes out of the dough, and transfer to the baking sheets with a metal spatula. The scraps may be gathered and rerolled to be cut into more shapes.
Bake cookies until they just slightly give in the middle when pressed, about 8 to 11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway. Do not overbake or they will became hard crispy gingerbread.
Let cool on sheets for a couple of minutes, then remove and finish cooling on wire racks. Makes about 30 cookies

Got the kitchen unpacked already, you go girl! Even though the old place was bad, I think you have some memories you are going to laugh at, not yet of course, but soon!! I have those horror stories myself- like when Himself and I got married he prided himself on our entertainment center made out of ARMY green ammo boxes, yes the real ones with M16 stenciled on the sides! Crazy man.

So happy that you're finally in your new, sweet home! My only advice? Keep unpacking till you've emptied and put away everything, or 2 years from now, you'll be going "Damn! I need ____, but it's in one of the boxes we didn't unpack!"

Moving's a stinker all right. Sometimes I would get up and look at all the boxes stacked to the ceiling and get VERY depressed. The only way is to look at one box at a time. And deal with it. But I'm happy you're happy in your new home.Love gingerbread anything! And yours look super.

SO glad you have gotten moved! I know moving is a big pile of stress but sounds like you're in a much better place. I can't wait to see what you come up with now that you have a better space & equipment to work with. In the meantime, consider the unpacking a zen-like experience (okay, well, at least TRY to make it zen-like). :-) Take care girl!

You'll definitely enjoy the process of getting settled in the new home -- and new kitchen! Take your time; everything doesn't have to get done at once. It will feel so good when you're unpacked and everything is arranged just the way you want it.

Congrats on your new crib. YOu should have left some shrimp in the curtain rods. They would beging to stink to high heavens after a few days..and you ex landlord would freak out trying to figure out where the stinch was coming from! LOL..I am evil!

Home sweet home, right!? I wish that you were able to bake, because maybe that would help with the stress part. In fact, these would make a great housewarming...for yourself! Plus, now you don't have to hide them from any raccoons. :D Wishing you many happy memories in your new abode.

Yay for new homes! Happy unpacking - it can be a lot of fun picking out just the right spots for your stuff. I could live with a fridge in the LR but ocean water in the basement and critters in the attic?! All in the past!

Have fun baking and blogging in your new home. These cookies are tasty teasers of what's yet to come!

Glad that I came across your blog! You have really good treats posted up here!

The cookies look like store-bought ones! Remind me so much of my days in the U.S. Would love try the recipe out someday to bring back those good ol' memories! Thanks for sharing! Will keep coming back! =)

Congratulations on your move and I am so happy to have found your website. I think I gained wait just reading all the lovely things you bake and especially chewy molasses cookies, my favorite. I am a happy new follower and if you get a chance feel free stop by my website as well. http://bamskitchen.com/

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com